Legislators are back in Raleigh this Monday for yet another special session, during which no substantive votes are planned.

Still, a coalition of concerned voters and organizations will hold an 11:00am rally for legislative accountability Monday in front of the General Assembly building at 16 W. Jones Street in Raleigh.

Regular readers of the Pulse may recall during the last special session, Speaker Thom Tillis opted to enforce a vague rule to remove peaceful and silent demonstrators from the second floor of the legislature.

On Tuesday, President Barack Obama returns to the Tar Heel State where he will discuss student loan debt at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In his speech, President Obama will urge Congress to prevent interest rates on student loans from doubling in July.

The event will take place at 10:00am at Carmichael Arena. Want to attend? Any remaining tickets will be available for pick-up at the box office in the Carmichael Arena today (Monday) between the hours of 10:00 am and 4:00 pm or until all tickets are gone.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments on the constitutionality of Arizona’s extreme immigration law, SB 1070. The Court is expected to announce its ruling in June.

We Are NC – North Carolina’s immigrant rights collaborative — is sending a delegation of North Carolinians to the steps of the Supreme Court in Washington, DC on Wednesday to demand that the High Court uphold justice for all and strike down Arizona’s anti-immigrant legislation.

If the Court strikes down SB 1070, immigrants and people of color in Arizona and across the nation will be able to breathe a little easier for the time being. More importantly, it will derail the North Carolina House Select Committee on the State’s Role Immigration from pursuing their own anti-immigrant agenda.

The NC Conservation Network will hold its 12th Annual Conference this Thursday and Friday in downtown Raleigh at the Marbles Kids Museum. This year’s conference will feature strategies for pro-environment policies in an anti-environment landscape. It should be timely, as lawmakers move forward with policies that would allow hydraulic fracking in our state.

Workers’ Memorial Day takes place annually around the world as an international day of remembrance and action for workers killed, disabled, injured or made unwell by their work. This Friday at noon organizers will hold a rally for safe jobs for the 99% in front of the N.C. Department of Labor, 4 West Edenton Street, Raleigh, N.C.

Keep those marching shoes out, as this Saturday women, men and children will Rally in Raleigh United Against the War on Women. The 1:00pm rally on Halifax Mall is part of a national movement to stop the vicious political, religious and social attacks on women’s rights. These efforts to roll back women’s rights gains of the past 50 years cross gender boundaries to healthcare rights, pay equality, the right to a public education, voting rights, workers’ rights, and immigrant rights.

The group will also express its opposition to Amendment One which is a devastating blow to all domestic partnership rights and protections for women, men and children in North Carolina.

NC Unite Against the War on Women (NC UAWOW) Rally in Raleigh is one of 54 rallies being held in cities across the country.

Also on Saturday over in Union County, former Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum will be the keynote speaker at the annual Lincoln-Reagan Day Dinner in Marvin, N.C., sponsored by the Union County Republican Party.

Opponents of Amendment One are busy with numerous events planned this week designed to educate voters about the harms of the proposed constitutional marriage amendment. A couple worth checking out….

What civil liberties are at stake as we vote on banning same-sex marriage in the state constitution?

Ellen “Lennie” Gerber, retired attorney, and Pearl Berlin, retired professor, UNC-Greensboro along with Bishop Donagrant L. McCluney, North Carolina Field Organizer, Southerners on New Ground will seek to answer that question and more.

Later that evening in Chapel Hill, Binkley Church will hold a Commitment/Recommitment Ceremony at 7:00pm in opposition to Amendment One. Anyone (gay or straight) is welcome to be part of the ceremony as a couple in a show of equity and respect for all relationships/unions.